Wait, this rivalry resumes

Dude, you had me at "maybe I try again later"


Great post-match analysis here...and it's interesting to see how the crowds and fans have turned toward Federer now that he's no longer invincible.

How has Tiger Woods avoided the backlash of being the most successful athlete in his sport?

The rivalry resumes

Just in case you're bored Sunday morning ('round either 3 or 4am Eastern time) and wanted to watch one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history, here's some background reading material:

• Pete Sampras's take
• Kamakshi Tandon's column
• Peter Bodo's discussion of rivalries
• ESPN's projections
• Tennis.com's prediction

Snow days are awesome

I can't remember which of these Princeton-related videos from YouTube I've posted before, so some could be redundant...some could not be, however...

Sheffield at Rock 4A Cause (this year's event is tomorrow night)


Sheffield's "High Roller" at Rock 4A Cause


More Sheffield at Rock 4A Cause


Jordan Hopgood (football highlights)


Ben & Zoey


Cool Schools: Princeton


this past fall's bonfire


Princeton Pep Rally


from the same Pep Rally


07-08 bball highlights


PHS sophomore basketball awards 2008

Put a shirt on, people

In case you hadn't noticed, that left coast artist that I mention from time to time continues her brilliance and is now hoping to supplement her income with a few ducats via the sale of her artwork on shirts.

So, if you've been pining for an angry uterus t-shirt (in ladies cut only, of course), then head over to her shirt site and check things out. I'm leaning toward the space monkey shirt, but I'm still waiting for some of her other genius images to show up.

Seriously, I think I'd buy the synesthesia color explanation chart shirt in a heartbeat.

I hate the Girl Scouts

I can come up with a hundred reasons to hate the Girl Scouts, but today I offer just two.

Number one, they've moved their cookie campaign up by almost three weeks, almost exactly swamping PHS's opportunities to collect donations at any Kroger store in the area.

And, exhibit b, they are - for the umpteenth time - decreasing they already pathetic value of their cookies.

Today's culinary treat

In honor of this past Sunday's Burns Night, I offer up today's culinary treat: a recipe for haggis. (Crimson: You may want to steer clear as this is a dish for those with carnivorous habits only.) This is a necessity since it's been illegal to import a proper haggis to the US for the last twenty years.

It's been almost exactly fourteen years since I had my at my lone Burns Night supper in Aberdeen, but I do remember enjoying it quite a bit. The mashed tatties were tasty, as well, though the neeps weren't quite in my taste range.

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn,
they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent lyke drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
"Bethankit!" 'hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him ower his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!

And, in case you're in need of a translation...

Nobody cares

Here's the deal, ok: nobody cares about anybody else but themselves.

Or at least, nobody cares nearly as much about anybody else as they do about themselves.

Take, for example, my self-entertaining dressing habits. Earlier this school year, I decided to go a week wearing a combination of black jeans and a Princeton shirt. With four pairs of black jeans in my closet and a half dozen collared Princeton shirts, it was an easy enough challenge. Plus it made the mornings a little more mindless, and it entertained me. Along the way, I was curious as to when during that week one of my students would comment on my repetitive sartorial choices.

Here's the big surprise: nobody ever did.

Its not that my students are any less observant or caring than any other group of people, I'm pretty sure it's just that every one of them was too busy thinking about what everyone else was going to say about themselves to give my dressing habits more than a cursory thought.

Another quick story...a couple of months ago, in discussions about possible Thanksgiving meals, my mom explained something with the reasoning "because you know I don't eat lamb." I replied to her that I didn't know any such thing. Admittedly, I didn't remember her ever eating lamb, but there's a big difference between not eating something because it's an uncommon food and not eating something because you have some sort of stomach-churning revulsion.

I'd lived with this woman for the better part of eighteen years, and I had to admit that I really didn't have any clue as to her eating preferences or habits. Yeah, I remember which meal I always helped Dad make on weekday nights when I was growing up, the first meal that was ever deeded entirely over to me as a teenager - spaghetti with meat sauce. But her preferences? No clue.

So, I have begun to shift a single phrase out of my vocabulary because I think it reflects a sense of narcissism in each of us: you know that I....

I'm trying not to say that because I have come to realize that nobody knows anything about us - or not nearly as much as we would think they do. Nobody is staring at us - noticing that pimple, that your socks don't match today, that you're cutting back on sweets - because they're all too busy thinking that you're staring at them.

Every man is an island.

Another new one from across the pond

Just found out that Lily Allen's got a new album finally coming out within the next month or so...first single's out and on YouTube (just in case you're as out of the loop as I am and hadn't seen it yet)...


That's the clean version...there's a version, too, if you're into that kind of a thing. And there's an official audio track of the title track of the new album, too.

I'll say that they've certainly given her a much bigger budget for videos this time, though the more electronic bent to the two songs puts me off a bit. I'm sure I'll give the album a listen at some point and give a more thorough opinion, but thought I'd make sure everybody was aware of the new stuff.

Now, if we could just get something new from Kate Nash...

The glories of Playmobil

A week or two ago, this image showed up on Neatorama and was mocked as an example of showing the darker side of our current times to our kids. The rest of the text, however, mentioned that the link finder found the rest of the customer reviews hilarious, so I went checking.

Here's what I found over at Amazon...

I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger's shoes cannot be removed. Then, we placed a deadly fingernail file underneath the passenger's scarf, and neither the detector doorway nor the security wand picked it up. My son said "that's the worst security ever!". But it turned out to be okay, because when the passenger got on the Playmobil B757 and tried to hijack it, she was mobbed by a couple of other heroic passengers, who only sustained minor injuries in the scuffle, which were treated at the Playmobil Hospital.
The best thing about this product is that it teaches kids about the realities of living in a high-surveillence society. My son said he wants the Playmobil Neighborhood Surveillence System set for Christmas. I've heard that the CC TV cameras on that thing are pretty worthless in terms of quality and motion detection, so I think I'll get him the Playmobil Abu-Gharib Interogation Set instead (it comes with a cute little memo from George Bush). ~loosenut

and...

Thank you Playmobil for allowing me to teach my 5-year old the importance of recognizing what a failing bureaucracy in a ever growing fascist state looks like. Sometimes it's a hard lesson for kids to learn because not all pigs carry billy clubs and wear body armor. I applaud the people who created this toy for finally being hip to our changing times. Little children need to be aware that not all smiling faces and uniforms are friendly. I noticed that my child is now more interested in current events. Just the other day he asked me why we had to forfeit so much of our liberties and personal freedoms and I had to answer "well, it's because the terrorists have already won". Yes, they have won.

I also highly recommend the Playmobil "farm fencing" so you can take your escorted airline passenger away and fence him behind bars as if he were in Guantanamo Bay. ~ Zampano

and...

I like the basic idea. I applaud Playmobile for attempting to provide us with the tools we need to teach our children to unquestioningly obey the commands of the State Security Apparatus, but unfortunately, this product falls short of doing that. There's no brown figure for little Josh to profile, taser, and detain? Where are all the frightened plastic Heartlanders pointing at the brown figure as they whisper "terrorist?" Where are the hippy couple figures being denied boarding passes? And shouldn't someone be forcing a mother figure to drink her own breast milk? ~ Gen. JC Christian, patriot

It seems like some of the Amazonians are a little bothered by Playmobil's newest playsets. Me, I'm more bothered by the fact that the cost of the TSA checkpoint is over $50 - for three figures and a small playset.

I checked out a few of the other Playmobil sets to see if the prices held true, and I was amazed to find that the Playmobil Police Checkpoint with two figures and minimal accessories was $49.99. Plus it appears that the same group of reviewers has been at work:

This playset is one of the best purchases I have made for my three-year-old. In the past, when we have been stopped at roadblocks, or when during one of Daddy's arrests, he would start crying uncontrollably. Now, after playing with this for the past several months, he is perfectly docile.

As an adjunct to this product, I would also recommend that you purchase the Playmobil Armed Standoff Playset, Fisher-Price Little People Battering Ram, and the Nerf Tear-Gas Canister Deployment Gun.

Bill of Rights sold separately. ~ Christopher Barber "gooseman"

and...

I was pretty pumped to get this model. After my Leviathan teddy-bear burst at the seams and my Guantanamo slip and slide tore into several pieces, I was looking for a petty distraction as durable as state tyranny itself.

Finally, I found the Playmobil Police Checkpoint. It's everything a colorful plastic method of indoctrination should be: mobile, plastic, and filled with red warning signs. I love setting it up outside my house. That way I feel like I have to show papers to get in. I know I own it, but it's cooler if the state lets me in. They know best.

Still, I have a complaint about this darling set. I mean, I'm no curmudgeon, and I hate to nit-pick, especially over such a usefully didactic toy. But I must-

No taser? ~ JohnnyOrlowskawitz "Johnny O."

Seriously, folks, I think you might be taking things a bit too far. Playmobil is just trying to give the kids a glimpse into the world around them. Take, for example, the Playmobil Safe Crackers set which is more reasonably priced at under $20.

Here's what one reviewer had to say about this set:

These guys are absolutely fabulous. They got right to work when we took them out of the box and quickly showed their stuff. They have gotten bored with the supplied safe and I've been having to keep them occupied by buying other kinds of locks and safes to keep them occupied, which has been hard because I seem to be misplacing money. I've even lost a credit card or two, now!

The wife seems to like them, too. She especially likes the little blond one and keeps talking about how he really has a heart of gold. She also points to the rather fancy Playmobil yacht that I'd only recently noticed (odd that, I don't remember buying that one for the kids) and keeps saying she bets he really knows how to "treat a woman like the princess she deserves to be treated as". I'm not sure what that means, exactly, but overall she seems happy, so I'm not complaining. Overall a great toy! ~ RunDown

See, that's much happier.

And Obama's Wordle

In the interest of equal time, here's Obama's inaugural address thrown into wordle.net.

Thoughts?

I don't exactly see any patterns or differences between the two that really freak me out or that would show anything more than my biases already would suggest.

A few quick thoughts on today's ceremonies - of which I watched from 11:30-12:45 or so - from just before the invocation through the end of the benediction...

• I was glad to hear afterwards that both John Roberts and Barack Obama were slightly at fault for the oath flub
• I was surprisingly pleased with Joseph Lowery's benediction, particularly his presentation of the first and only laugh line of the entire day's events right at the close of his part, the final moments of the whole day's main events
• I found myself impressed whenever Obama would bring back historical quotes, especially those echoing the Bible. I also know that had GWBush made the same - or similar - references to his faith or his background or a Christian heritage of America, I would have been angry or cursing the television. I am horribly biased.
• Obama's line about our patchwork nation - [w]e are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. - impressed the heck out of me. As someone who doesn't have a religious faith, I often feel that I am forgotten in the political mentions of the major faiths of our nation. I liked the nod to those of us without a religion.
• Obama's speech certainly set the bar low and the hopes high - reminding us of the hard times and the challenges ahead, ensuring that we knew there would be no quick fixes, no easy remedies but always stating unequivocally that we would solve these problems together.
• I've said it before, but I am more hopeful for this administration than for any that I have known.

Bush's wordle

Those are the 150 most common words in President Bush's 2005 inaugural address - thanks to USA Today for the transcript, by the way.

I pasted the words into Wordle.net, a site that allows you to create a tag cloud, showing the most common words in the text and sizing them according to their frequencies. From there you can adjust all of the attributes - font, color, verticality - and play around until things look right for you.

Kinda fun...

Tomorrow I'll throw Obama's into the hopper and see what comes out.

It's far too far 'til summer

I don't care that this doesn't come out until June and that we've got Watchmen and Fanboys on the far more imminent horizon. What matters to me is that ColdNorthGamer mentioned a while back that he didn't watch the YouTube clips I put up because they were always gone by the time he got to them (often because I was posting long in advance for those weekend forays), so I'm throwing this one out there right now.

I want to see this film.

Do yourself a favor and read this summary before checking out the trailer below...

This post modern love story is never what we expect it to be -- It's thorny yet exhilarating, funny and sad, a twisted journey of highs and lows that doesn't quite go where we think it will. When Tom, a hapless greeting card copywriter and hopeless romantic, is blindsided after his girlfriend summer dumps him, he shifts back and forth through various periods of their 500 days "together" to try to figure out where things went wrong. His reflections ultimately lead him to finally rediscover his true passions in life.

But what's with the awful announcer voice? If the film's got two stars of that magnitude (solid B-listers, Zoey bordering on A), then they should be able to get a decent announcer voice.

Free donuts...of choice

Anytime tomorrow, stop by your local Krispy Kreme establishment and get yourself a free doughnut - of your choice.

Personally, I'd go for the jelly-filled, but that has nothing to do with the rest of the story.

Apparently the original announcement from Krispy Kreme read like this (according to a Miami New Times article):

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American's sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies -- just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet 'free' can be.

Seems innocuous enough, but some groups will take any opportunity for free publicity, so the American Life League, an avowed anti-abortion group, responded with the following press release:

The following is a statement from American Life League president, Judie Brown.

"The next time you stare down a conveyor belt of slow-moving, hot, sugary glazed donuts at your local Krispy Kreme you just might be supporting President-elect Barack Obama's radical support for abortion on demand – including his sweeping promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act as soon as he steps in the Oval Office, Jan. 20.

The doughnut giant released the following statement yesterday:

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American's sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies -- just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet "free" can be.

Just an unfortunate choice of words? For the sake of our Wednesday morning doughnut runs, we hope so. The unfortunate reality of a post Roe v. Wade America is that "choice" is synonymous with abortion access and celebration of 'freedom of choice' is a tacit endorsement of abortion rights on demand.

President-elect Barack Obama promises to be the most virulently pro-abortion president in history. Millions more children will be endangered by his radical abortion agenda.

Celebrating his inauguration with "Freedom of Choice" doughnuts – only two days before the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to decriminalize abortion – is not only extremely tacky, it's disrespectful and insensitive and makes a mockery of a national tragedy.

A misconstrued concept of "choice" has killed over 50 million preborn children since Jan. 22, 1973. Does Krispy Kreme really want their free doughnuts to celebrate this "freedom.""

As of Thursday morning, Communications Director Brian Little could not be reached for comment. We challenge Krispy Kreme doughnuts to reaffirm their commitment to true freedom – to the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – and to separate themselves and their doughnuts from our great American shame.

And now the Krispy Kreme's announcement reads thusly on this website:

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts’ Inauguration Day promotion on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, is offering one, free doughnut of a customer’s choice at participating Krispy Kreme locations nationwide. No purchase is necessary. The promotion allows customers to commemorate Inauguration Day by selecting one free doughnut of any variety at local participating stores. On Election Day, November 4, 2008, Krispy Kreme ran a promotion that provided customers with one free star-shaped doughnut at stores nationwide. The Inauguration Day promotion is not about any social or political issue.

It does still have the word choice in the announcement, but it does have that final disclaimer in there.

My issue here isn't for or against the right of a woman to have an abortion - that's your business to decide how you feel there - my issue is that I want the debate over this issue (as well as over every other issue) to stick to the actual issue at hand. Don't go looking for conspiracy theories and hidden meanings in every statement that anyone or any corporation makes.

If you see that Consumer Reports says (and I'm making this up here) that the want every consumer armed with the information to make the right choice, don't freak out about them being pro-gun.

If Wired magazine has a note saying that (again, made up by me) they want people to be able to vouch for and trust their information, don't start screaming about their secret agenda to promote school choice.

If someone says "I'm pro choice", scream. It's your business - though I'd rather you engage in a reasoned debate with them instead of calling them a baby killer. But don't go looking for stupid fights where they don't exist.

By the by, my favorite comment on the New Miami Times website:

if they were abortion donuts, i don't think i'd want one. i assume they'd be taking them out of the oven way too early.

I don't understand.

Paul is the weenie one.

I can tolerate very few of the Beatles songs that Paul ever wrote and fewer still of the crap he put out with Wings ("Band on the Run" being the only one).

His presence as a solo act in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is yet another reason why that is a laughable institution.

And yet I really enjoyed this new track...



Color me confuddled...

We've been baconized

Something seems to be wrong with the PHS website this morning.

I need to figure out how this was done.

Two things I love

I love Coach Knight, and I love a shooting guard with no fear.

In honor of my 7th bell class

A few years ago, my seventh bell class - maybe...I know it was my first class after lunch that year - asked if they could put a cd in a microwave in class. They argued that it was science so they should be able to do it, and they knew that I had a microwave in my storage room.

Nope, I said, that microwave is food only, used to heat up lunches for the four teachers sharing the storage room's common space. I didn't want to damage it. If they wanted to buy their own microwave, however, I'd let them do it. (As an aside, I knew they'd never get enough money together to buy a microwave, so I was safe...)

...until one of them piped up with "I work at Wal-Mart, and we've got a microwave on sale for $25 right now."

Crap...in like two minutes, they had $20 on the table, and by the next day they'd pooled enough to buy the microwave and a crappy toaster so they could try the strawberry Pop-Tart blowtorches.

In honor of that class, long gone from the halls of Princeton, I present today's awesomness: the MicroManiancs, a website on which the stars microwave various things until they are destroyed...and film it...and let us watch.

I particularly recommend checking out the foam.

Somebody's hoping for no earthquakes

At least George Vlosich III has a section of his website that explains how he makes the Etch-a-Sketch artwork permanent.

Otherwise, that would suck.

I can't make it, sadly

If anybody's in The City (somehow, NYC earns the capital letters) the Thursday and Friday before Valentine's Day, might I recommend checking out The Strawberry One Act Festival's Series A one-acts?

In particular I would suggest making sure to see Fan-Boys. Here's what I know about the play - in case you needed some convincing:

• It's about comic book fan-boys.
• The author interviewed me as she was writing the play. So I have the smallest bit of pride in seeing the thing finally performed.
• I taught the author everything that she knows...about chemistry.
• The author suffered the worst injury ever in any of my chemistry classes with a really nasty burn from grabbing a very hot ring stand, so she deserves your sympathy.

Sadly I will not be able to make it as I'll be in Cincy the first night and Gatlinburg the second.

Today's meditation

túrána hott kurdís by hasta la otra méxico! from Till Credner on Vimeo.

Thanks to neatorama for today's calming bonus Sunday post.